1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to work benches in general, and particularly to a free-standing modular workbench that may be utilized as a single unit or interconnected with multiple like units to form an elongated series of cooperatively interconnected free-standing modular workbenches.
2. Description of the prior art
There has been a long felt need for a free-standing modular workbench that can be quickly assembled with no or a minimal amount of hardware or fastening devices and from only a few pre-fabricated parts or components some of which are interchangeable, and which, unlike fully welded benches or bench frames, may be compactly crated in disassembed form for shipping purposes to minimize shipping space, and which upon reaching an ultimate destination where it is to be assembled, may be quickly and accurately assembled by relatively unskilled labor, thus further minimizing the ultimate cost of the modular workbench to the consumer.
Workbenches are used in many different industries for many different purposes. Some of these purposes include the progressive build-up assembly of many different end items. In some instances, a workbench needs to be a stand-alone unit, while in other instances, one, two or several workbenches need to be interconnected to form an elongated series of indefinite length of multiple free-standing modular workbenches as required by the particular industry. This modularity enables efficient use of floor space, promotes greater production efficiency, and facilitates the assembly of multiple individual benches in various selected patterns of interconnection wherein varying bench heights and lengths may be accommodated as necessary.
It is a common perception that most workbenches are either welded or bolted together to form a single stand alone unit, not intended to be moved, disassembled or stored after being placed into service. Therefore, the conventional design of benches by bench manufacturers is a durable, though heavy, unitized structure. However, the ever changing needs of most manufacturing, assembly or industrial facilities dictate the moving, rearranging, increasing, decreasing or customizing of the height and width of work areas and specifically work benches. As a consequence, much time and labor is expended unbolting, re-bolting, re-configuring and moving heavy unitized structures. It is usually more expensive to modify the height or width of a conventional workbench, as work needs change, than it is to buy a new bench. When this occurs, the old bench becomes obsolete and is scrapped, or sold to company employees, primarily because, in the event a bench with the dimensional qualities of the old bench is not needed elsewhere, it is too expensive to store due to the space it will occupy because of its unitized cubic volume.
Additionally, many bench manufacturers do not accurately assess the needs of their customers. Benches which become obsolete at one facility are not usually centrally pooled for re-distribution and future use at another facility. One reason for this is the disproportionate and excessive cost of space in which to store the assembled but as yet undistributed workbenches. Another reason is that benches are of such varied design, color and quantity, that when re-installed in another facility, they would make that facility look like patchwork rather than appear as a wholly integrated and well thought-out organized manufacturing or assembly facility.
It is therefore understandable why the current bench provisioning industry does not base its products and production on a design standard. Not doing so unfortunately results in a burdening of the World""s economy due to the waste and inefficiencies generated by obsolete, or excess benches, as well as the intensive skilled labor required to assemble or disassemble bolt-together benches, the excessive cost in fuel and time to distribute or move a fully welded bench, the frustration of the cutomer when he has to wait six weeks for a fully welded bench to be custom made, which, when after a period of time and use, much to his surprise and disappointment, the entire cost of the bench is lost because the bench cannot be effectively or economically modified to meet ever-changing needs, or it is too costly to store because it cannot be disassembled to minimize its volume and therefore its storage costs, and because no one else wants it because of its unique appearance, i.e., it does not match the style of bench already installed in another facility, and therefore additionally burdening the economy in wasted time and money because the bench is now a liability, its disposal evermore consuming our natural resources.
Furthermore, individual conventional benches which need to be arranged and maintained in an elongated series of multiple workbenches, to form a continuous unbroken work surface as required by a particular industry, must additionally be interconnected, fastened together, or secured to the floor by skilled labor to maintain their unbroken association, again adding to the cost the consumer ultimately pays for products which are more efficiently assembled on a continuous unbroken work surface. The characteristic which enables multiple work benches to be easily interconnected, forming an unbroken continuous work surface is a still further novelty of the present invention.
Furthermore, upon thorough dissection and scrutiny of the conception and life cycle of a conventional workbench, it will be understood that there is a need for an efficiently manufacturable workbench, one which can be produced, stored and distributed in a timely manner. A three foot high by three foot wide by six foot long conventional welded bench cannot be shipped disassembled, and occupies fifty-four cubic feet of space in its finished ready-to-deliver form.
By contrast, the modular workbench of the present invention can be shipped in disassembled form, and in disassembled form, occupies only four cubic fee of space, or fully thirteen times less space than required to ship or store a fully welded conventional bench. It is therefore obvious that a modular workbench according to the present invention can be produced at the same rate as a welded bench in a facility that is at least one-thirteenth the size needed to produce a conventional welded bench.
Because of the sheer size of the conventional welded bench, the labor force to produce the bench must fluctuate with the varying demand for benches, exclusively because to manufacture conventional benches of this type on a continuous production line, and store them when completed, would necessitate a facility of such size, employee number and cost overhead (operating cost) as to make the bench too costly to be afforded, than if a welded bench were produced in a facility wherein the labor does vary. However, varying the labor force to meet demand causes disruption as new workers are trained and skilled workers look elsewhere for a more stable income. Therefore, the time it takes to manufacture a bench increases as manufacturers attempt to balance the cost of their work force, overhead and ultimately the sale price of the bench to maintain their competitiveness and stay in business.
As can be understood from the situation described above, the greater the demand for benches the longer it takes to receive one at an affordable price. However, this condition is the opposite of the needs of the bench consumers who want benches when they need them and at an affordable price so that they may meet the varying demands of consumers of the products and make a profit so as to stay in business. The result of associated business entities struggling to meet bench supply and demand at a reasonable price while still making a profit, creates a stress that ever increases the cost of products and consumes time and natural resources as the pressure mounts to deliver products on time and meet contractual commitments, and wherein ultimately, the bench becomes unwanted scrap at a landfill.
When reduced to its basic elements, it can be seen that the current means and methods of providing a bench on which work is performed and products are produced, are nothing more than an intensive, inefficient and elaborate process for generating scrap. By contrast, a goal of the invention disclosed and illustrated herein is to provide a modular workbench structure of lasting value that can be used over and over again, as if it were a carpenter""s hammer, available when needed, stored or sold when not needed, easily transported from work site to work site, of standard design and size to enable anyone to use it as a tool and of such reasonable price and manufacturability as to make it as affordable and readily available as an everyday necessity. The modular workbench of the instant invention thus constitutes a structure which by design achieves efficient use of time and the thoughtful and appropriate allocation of natural resources.
A preliminary patentability and novelty search has revealed the existence of United States Design patents as follows:
Since none of the patents listed above disclose or even suggest the advantages and conveniences inherent in the free-standing modular workbench disclosed herein, it is accordingly one of the objects of the present invention to provide a modular workbench that utilizes standard components some of which may be interchanged one with another, and which may be engaged one with another through use of quick-connect/disconnect fastener elements to form a selectively variable height workbench that may be assembled substantially without use of tools, and which incorporates a means for adding an auxiliary or ancillary shelf above the workbench top surface for storage of tools or materials used in the manufacturing or assembly function for which the workbench is utilized.
Not infrequently, conventional workbenches utilize materials that are exceedingly heavy, that are awkward to crate and which utilize expensive shipping space when shipped from the manufacturer of the workbench to the distributor or end user. Accordingly, another object of the invention is the provision of a modular workbench incorporating elements or components that when disassembled may be shipped in a relatively shallow container that occupies minimum space and therefore minimizes the cost of shipping from point of origin to point of use.
Some manufacturing and/or assembly procedures are performed consecutively at separate work stations that are in close proximity to one another. This enables a manufacturing sub-assembly, for instance, to move from one work station to the next succeeding work station for additional manufacturing or assembly procedures. Accordingly, it is another important object of the present invention to provide a modular free-standing workbench structure that facilitates the interconnection of one workbench with another substantially without the use of tools, yet in a manner to eliminate any gap between the interconnected workbenches and to maintain them so connected.
It has been found that by fabricating the metal support components from quadrilateral, preferably square tubing, the ends of the quadrilateral tubing may be formed so that one end of one tube slips snugly into the end of an associated tube to tightly and rigidly interconnect the tubes by a wedging action. Additionally, it has been found that by utilizing quick-connect and disconnect fastener assemblies, the workbench surface may be quickly and easily connected or disconnected from supporting structure with minimal use of tools. Accordingly, it is yet another object of the present invention to provide a modular workbench that incorporates these qualities and characteristics.
It is yet another object of the invention to integrate the workbench top as a structural member of the modular workbench so as to preclude swaying, thereby eliminating the necessity of additional anti-sway members and additional ancillary hardware.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a modular workbench design incorporating a minimal number of detachably interengaging components that may be individually pre-formed from various composite materials so as to enable packaging and shipment in disassembled form and which may be readily assembled without the use of tools.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a modular workbench incorporating a rigid workbench top formed from honey-combed synthetic resinous or composite materials having smooth exterior surfaces, integral leg-mounting portions, and leg members that slidably engage the leg-mounting portions so as to retain the workbench top member elevated above a supporting surface such as a floor.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be apparent from the following description and the drawings It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.
In terms of broad inclusion, in one aspect, the simplified modular free-standing workbench of the invention comprises a pair of laterally spaced and parallel workbench-top tubular support members to which the workbench top is rigidly yet detachably secured by quick-connect/disconnect fastener elements. The laterally spaced tubular support members are supported in an elevated attitude by pairs of tubular legs rigidly yet detachably engaging the associated ends of the tubular bench top support members. Additionally, tubular foot members may optionally be rigidly yet detachably engaged with the bottom ends of the leg members, thus providing a facility for selectively varying the height of the workbench top surface merely by varying the length of the foot members. The laterally spaced workbench top support members may be interconnected by transversely extending tubular members that abut the inner confronting surfaces of the tubular laterally spaced top support members, and are attached thereto by simplified quick-connect/disconnect fastener elements.
An auxiliary or ancillary shelf is mounted above the surface of the workbench top by an elongated lateral member similar in its configuration and dimensions to the lateral support members that retain the workbench top member, and is supported in an elevated attitude above the top surface member by a pair of tubular auxiliary support members rigidly but detachably engaging the lateral member and extending vertically to the work bench top member and which is supported adjacent its rear edge by a pair of elongated tubular members which abut the unconfronted surface of the workbench top lateral support member and are disposed in a vertically extending attitude and engaging a horizontal transverse auxiliary shelf rear support member by simplified quick-connect/disconnect fastener elements to which shelf surface member is secured to the elongated tubular horizontal members by quick-connect/disconnect fastener elements.
To detachably secure one end of an assembled free-standing modular workbench to an associated end of an adjacent similarly assembled free-standing modular workbench, means are provided for interconnecting the tubular support members of one bench to the tubular support members of an associated bench to impose a cinching force that draws the end members of the associated workbenches together to form a continuously maintained and unbroken work surface xe2x80x9clinexe2x80x9d or series of two or more free-standing modular workbenches.